


Sincerely, Me

by screwtodayimsleeping



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake Friendship, Fake/Pretend Relationship, High School AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, No one dies though, based off of a youtube video and comments, dear even hansen au if you look a certain way, denial is a strong bitch, emailing, pidge is suffering but thinks its hilarious, they/them pronouns for Pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2018-10-16 02:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screwtodayimsleeping/pseuds/screwtodayimsleeping
Summary: “Dear Lance McClain, thanks for every note you send.”“Dear Keith Kogane, I’m just glad to be your friend.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lance and Keith don't get along, and they were pretty ok with it staying that way.So it's both of their faults when they have to convince their parents that they've secretly been friends via email for a while.But along the way of forging this relationship, what if real feelings come through?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so this is yet another fic that I got inspired by from several ideas. Firstly I need to credit phosphorescent on YouTube for making the Sincerely, Me Voltron animatic that firstly, got me into Dear Even Hansen, and secondly was hilarious and adorable. Secondly, the idea for this fic came from Chimera-ning in the comments section with their great idea of how the plot would go. So thank you to you two for giving me permission to try and write this. :)  
> Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX_5zxKgyoA
> 
> Not sure how long this is going to be, but as long as my motivation keeps up, I'm going to keep chugging away at this.  
> Side note: All of the main characters are in their senior year of high school besides Shiro, who's in college, and Pidge who is a junior.

Keith was placing the last plate on the table when the doorbell rang. His mom called from the kitchen, “That must be them! Keith, sweetie, could you get the door and let them in?” Keith sighed but straightened and fixed the collared shirt his mom had insisted he wear for dinner. “Sure,” he called back, heading towards the front door. “Remember to be nice,” his mom called back, and Keith rolled his eyes. “I know, mom,” he yelled back.

He reached the door and took a deep breath in, preparing himself for the probably socially unpleasant night ahead. Even worse because apparently the couple that was coming over had a son Keith’s age who was also coming. He grabbed the handle and opened the door, putting on a smile at least while he greeted the people he and his mom were about to have dinner with.

“Hello. You must be the McClains-”

“Keith?”

Keith’s greeting died away and he locked eyes with a surprised face that he unfortunately knew too well, and after a moment both of their faces turned into scowling ones.

What the fuck.

Why the fuck, out of all the families that his mom had to invite over, did it have to be _his_ family?

“Hi, Lance,” Keith growled out, eyes narrowed at the taller boy who had crossed his arms over his chest and who was scowling back at him. Lance’s parents didn’t seem to notice too much. Rather they seemed happy that the two already knew each other. “Hello there! Keith, was it?” Lance’s mother said, reaching out a hand. Keith looked away from Lance and shook her hand, not expecting the soft yet firm grip.

“It was so nice for your mother to invite us over for dinner,” Lance’s dad said, shifting slightly and smiling at Keith. Keith nodded and forced a pained smile on his face. “Well, come in then,” he said, and he stepped aside to let them in the house. He considered trying to shut the door before Lance could get in. Lance shot him a glare as he passed him. Keith resisted the urge to groan aloud.

He had been wrong. This night wouldn’t be unpleasant. It was going to be downright unbearable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith had first met Lance when they had started their sophomore year of highschool. Keith had transferred in on recommendation and had been accepted fairly quickly. He had gone through the first week not really talking to anyone before he had gotten connected to Pidge through science class. It was a simple discussion about conspiracy theory and Keith decided they were alright.

Not long after that was when Pidge introduced him to the rest of the friend group during a lunch period. It was then that Keith officially met Lance. When Keith had first arrived at the table, being dragged by Pidge, only Hunk and Shay had been at the table, and the two had been very kind and accepting of him.

Keith had just started to feel more comfortable when a loud voice had come from behind him, startling him and nearly making him fall out of his seat.

“Hey, why is there a mullet in my seat?”

Keith had turned around and met eyes with a tall and tan skinned teen who was staring at him with raised eyebrows and an irritated looking face. Keith was about to retort back indignantly when Pidge had elbowed him in the arm. “Ignore Lance, he’s always petty about little things.”

The teen, Lance, had made an offended noise. “Excuse me, but this has, like, always been my seat! I sit across from my best buddy Hunk, I get my healthy dose of salt from sitting next to you, and I’m the closest to the desert cart! This is the best seat at the table, which is why it’s always been mine!”

Hunk let out an amused sigh and Keith had gotten the feeling that this was pretty normal. Pidge had just rolled their eyes. “I was introducing Keith to the friend group. So since he’s the guest, he gets the supposed, ‘best seat’,” they said, making quotation marks.

Lance huffed and crossed his arms, shooting a look at Keith. “Ok, but still, doesn’t he know that this is the twenty-first century? Mullets died out in the eighties.” Keith felt irritation rush through him and he had shot back, “At least I don't shove my crusty ass face into things the second I see them.”

The result had been instantaneous. Pidge hissed out an, “Oooooh,” and Hunk sucked in a breath. And Lance jerked backwards and slapped a hand against his chest, his face looking like he had just been told the most offensive thing in the world.

“Ex-CUSE you, are you fucking blind?” He said, his voice rising shrilly as he pointed an accusing finger at Keith, who simply raised an eyebrow at the over-the-top reaction. Lance continued, finger still pointed at Keith. “My face is perfect! I work hard on it! My face is a blessing to witness and it’s been wasted on you!”

Keith had rolled his eyes, about to turn around and just eat his food when Lance had jabbed his finger into Keith’s chest, and instinctively Keith had grabbed his wrist and twisted it, making Lance shriek and causing the majority of the lunch room to look in their direction.

Once the embarrassment had died down and Lance had grudgingly sat down next to Shay, the two boys had spent the rest of the lunch hour shooting glares at each other, and it had been a solid downhill in their relationship since then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith walked into the kitchen and tried to diminish the feeling of annoyance seeing Lance just casually leaning against his counter. It at least looked like Lance’s parents had made Lance dress up too, because he was also in a collared shirt with nicer jeans. There was some kind of consolidation in the fact that Lance was also probably suffering right now.

Keith’s mom and Lance’s mom seemed to be getting along very well, laughing and talking with their hands while Lance’s dad stood there smiling and occasionally joining in on the laughter. Keith leaned against the entryway wall and crossed his arms, preferring to watch the adults rather than Lance.

“Well, enough talking then,” Keith’s mom said bubbly, clasping her hands together suddenly. “The food is already set on the table. Let’s go eat.” The group moved to the dining room. Lance and Keith ended up walking next to each other, but when they realized it Lance quickly moved ahead.

As soon as Lance’s parents and Keith’s mom had sat down Keith realized there was a huge problem. The three adults had sat next to each other, which left only two open seats next to each other. Lance was already standing by one of them, looking at the seat as if it had personally offended him. Then his face smoothed out and he plopped down in the seat, shooting Keith a challenging look.

Keith bristled but didn’t back down, and he almost aggressively pulled the chair out and sat in it, leaning back and crossing his arms again. He looked down at his lap, trying to ignore Lance in his peripheral vision. He didn’t realize they had already started filling their plates until Lance’s mom had thrust one of the bowls into his line of vision, asking if he wanted any.

Dinner was going smoothly, Keith supposed. His mom seemed to be having fun and Lance’s parents were seeming comfortable. Keith and Lance were just listening to them, eating silently and trying to not make eye contact with each other.

“So, Keith,” Lance’s mom suddenly said, leaning slightly towards him, and Keith paused mid bite, lowering his fork and looking at her. She smiled and propped her chin on her hands, smiling and looking curious. “How do you and Lance know each other? You knew each other’s names already before we introduced you two.”

Silence. _Well, you’re fucked_ , Keith’s mind helpfully supplied. There was no way he was about to announce at this introductory dinner with Lance’s parents that he hated their son. That wouldn’t go down well at all. “Uhh…” he started, trying to think of what to say.

“We go to the same school,” Lance suddenly spoke up, and when Keith shot him a look his face was pinched in a way that Keith recognized as him trying to play it cool but not knowing what to do.

Keith jumped onto the statement. “We’ve known each other for a while,” he said, shooting Lance a look, and Lance nodded. “We met sophomore year, but we started talking at the beginning of this year,” he continued. Lance kept nodding and the two looked back at the adults, believing it was all over.

They were so wrong. “Oh really? I didn’t know you two had been friends for that long. Why haven’t you talked about Lance before?” Keith’s mom spoke up, looking interested. Keith’s brain screeched to a halt. Friends? Since when?

But before Keith could say anything, Lance’s slightly frantic voice cut in. “Ahh, um, we’ve been kinda quiet about it. We’ve never had a lot of classes together, so we just email a ton.”

Keith’s neck cracked from how quickly he turned to look at Lance incredulously. Lance looked back at him with a very clear look that screamed, _play along!_ So Keith cleared his throat and looked back at the waiting adults.

“Y-Yeah, we’ve talked a lot since then. Lance will tell me about how things are going with him and I’ll do the same thing back.” Lance suddenly cut in. “Yeah, I told Keith about that kitchen incident a few weeks ago, Mom. His reaction was hilarious.” Lance forced a grin and chuckled weakly, as if remembering the conversation. Keith faked a laugh of his own and nodded.

“Oh really? It sounds like you two have been having some fun conversations,” Lance’s mom said, beaming and clasping her hands together. Lance’s dad was smiling next to her and nodding in what seemed to be approval. Then Keith’s mom ruined everything when she leaned forward and looked Keith dead in the eyes, almost smirking.

“I would love to read some of these funny stories you two have shared with each other. I want to know more about Lance and what your friendship is like.”

Keith’s eyes widened and his mouth slightly dropped open. Next to him, Lance dropped his fork. Before either could say anything in their defense, Lance’s mom’s expression brightened into pure excitement.

“Ooh, yes! I would love to read some of those too! You two have been talking for a little while; I’m sure there’s been some great stories shared with each other about the past two years you’ve known each other!” The two women started to converse happily between themselves about how glad they were that their sons already were friends with each other and how wonderful it all was.

Keith remained frozen in his chair for another moment before turning to look at Lance, his face screaming panic. Lance was looking back at him, his face looking a little paler than normal and his face reflecting the same. The two were sharing the same thought.

**_We fucked up._ **


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith have to come to an agreement on what to do now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I rushed the ending because I wanted to get it out today, so I apologize for that. But yeah, here's the second chapter!

“So wait wait, what are you trying to get me to do?” Pidge asked, raising an eyebrow at the two teens who were looking at them with pleading expressions. The two had cornered them as soon as first lunch period had started. 

“We need you to help us forge emails to each other from the last few months so we can prove to our parents that we’ve been friends,” Keith said, and Lance nodded frantically. Pidge blinked several times before scoffing slightly. “Um, why on earth does that need to be a thing?” they asked, leaning back in their chair at the lunch table and crossing their arms. 

“Because Lance fucked everything up and told our parents we’ve been emailing.” “Hey!” Lance glared at Keith. “You’re the one who told them we were chatting all friendly in the first place.” Keith shot him back a look before sighing and looking back at Pidge. “So we’re fucked unless we show some evidence to our parents.” 

Pidge cocked their head to the side, looking at the two with almost amusement. “So why are you guys agreeing to do this instead of, I don’t know, telling them the truth and saying you hate each other?” 

Lance and Keith looked at each other again and sighed almost in unison. “Well, it was a mutual agreement,” Lance muttered. 

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ “Hey, mom, is it alright if Lance and I go chill in my room for a little bit?” Keith asked, his voice sounding slightly frantic. “Since you guys are having some adult talk and, uh… Lance and I need to catch up… in person,” he finished lamely, looking at Lance as if begging him with his eyes to agree. They needed to talk about whatever thing they had just done. _

_ Lance easily understood. “That’s ok, right Mom? Dad?” The teens looked pleadingly at their parents, hoping that they wouldn’t recognize their mutual panic. Lance’s mom smiled and nodded. “If that’s alright with you,” she said, shooting a look at Keith’s mom, who smiled and nodded. “Of course. We’ll call you two down for dessert.”  _

_ “Great, thanks!” Keith said quickly, jumping out of his chair and speed walking out of the room, Lance right behind him. They rushed up the stairs, Keith almost breaking into a run with his rush to get into the privacy of his room. He raced into his room and nearly slammed the door shut on Lance's face before remembering he was there and letting him in before shutting the door.  _

_ The second it was shut Lance whirled towards Keith, finally showing his panic. “Dude, holy fuck what are we gonna do here? We're totally screwed!” Keith put a finger to his lips. “Keep your voice down,” he hissed. “We can't let our parents hear us talk about this.”  _

_ “Like that's gonna matter when we can't show them any evidence of us being friends,” Lance grumbled, heading to where Keith's desk was and plopping down in the chair with a grunt. “Why did we have to say that.” Keith crossed his arms, glaring at Lance. “Well maybe we should just go back down there and clear everything up. Tell them we aren't friends. Get it over with.”  _

_ “We can't!” Keith blinked in confusion at Lance's outburst. Lance continued. “We already fell into this situation. We… I can't let down my mom like this.” Lance looked at the floor, crossing his arms. “She was so excited about this. She was so glad that she had made a new friend who had a son my age. If we told her we weren't friends after our declarations just now,” Lance looked up and made eye contact with Keith. “- it might ruin her new friendship with your mom for our sakes, and I'm not about to do that to her.”  _

_ Keith had both eyebrows raised when Lance had finished. Lance was completely serious. And the more he thought about it, the more Keith was able to agree with him. He hadn't seen his mom this excited to have people over in a while, and it had been ages since she'd invited people over to the house. It would be pretty asshole-ish of them to ruin it just because they didn't get along.  _

_ “Ok. I guess we can try to work through this for them,” he conceded. Lance looked surprised that he had agreed so quickly. “So after we somehow prove we've been talking for several months, what do we do then?” Keith moved to sit on his bed, which was across the room from his desk, and crossed his arms again, looking at Lance questioningly. Lance sighed and shrugged, crossing his own arms as he leaned back in Keith's chair.  _

_ “We keep emailing. We gotta keep them off our backs,” he stated, his tone making it clear he didn't like the idea. That made two of them, Keith figured. He didn't want to have to feign friendship with Lance for who knew how long. But he supposed that they would suffer together in that regard.  _

_ “Fine,” he ground out, flopping backwards onto his bed and groaning. “Also, why the hell did you say email? Text is so much easier.” Lance sighed, clearly frustrated. “I panicked, ok?” Keith rolled his eyes and sat back up. He dragged a hand through his bangs and sighed.  _

_ “Well I guess we have to pretend we're friends now,” he said, looking at Lance with resignation running through him. Lance sighed and met his eyes. “I guess so.”  _

_ They were quiet for a minute before suddenly Keith spoke up. “What exactly was the kitchen incident?” Lance looked back at him confused. Keith groaned. “The incident you told our parents you had told me about?” Realization lit up in Lance's eyes and he huffed a small laugh. “Oh, that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was making mashed potatoes for dinner and was using an electric mixer, and when I offered the whisks to my little siblings to lick, I hit the on button instead of the eject button, and so globs of mashed potato were flung literally all over the kitchen at high speed.”  _

_ There was silence for a moment and then a loud snort and laughter escaped Keith, picturing Lance standing still with mashed potatoes all over the place. Lance raised his eyebrows at him but chuckled a little, and for a split moment, Keith thought that maybe things wouldn't be as bad as he thought it might. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

Keith was rejecting that fleeting previous thought. So far, the only thing they had been able to agree on about their plan was that they would need Pidge’s help, and every other detail had them at each others throats in an instant. 

“You two are just doing this to throw your folks off from the truth?” Pidge shook their head in sarcastic wonderment. “Wow, that's almost embarrassing. But hey, I'm down to see how this all ends horribly, so I'll help you out. As long as when the truth finally comes out, you leave my name out of it.” Keith was just relieved that Pidge was agreeing to help; he didn't care about the rest of their spiel. 

“Yes, thank you Pidge,” Lance yelled, grabbing them in a hug and holding onto them despite their instant slew of threats and kicking. Keith just breathed out a sigh of relief. Now that they had Pidge’s computer skills on their side, things should be a lot easier. 

“I call Pidge’s help first,” Lance said, finally releasing Pidge and pointing dramatically into Keith’s face with a wide grin. Keith glowered back at him, feeling the annoyance rise for the hundredth time that day. “You can’t just call dibs on Pidge; we both need their help,” he tried to explain. But Lance just waved his hand into Keith’s face. “A-bu-bu-bu-buh! Nope! I get them first. I decided I need to prove my good boy status to our parents and show that I made first contact!” 

Keith’s eyes narrowed and he pushed the hand away. “You probably don’t even know what to say in the email. That’s why you called dibs, isn’t it?” He smirked suddenly, seeing Lance’s brief trapped look, and he leaned towards him, eyebrows raising and smirk steadily growing. “Aww, Lance, you can’t even figure out how to send a nice email to me without someone else’s help. I can see how this is going to go.” 

Lance’s face was growing darker with barely concealed embarrassment and rage. “Oh- oh yeah?!? Well- um… like YOU are going to have any better luck! I got the help on my side! So suck it, Keith!” Lance huffed loudly and stomped away dramatically to grab his backpack and head to class. Keith just rolled his eyes and looked down at the table, noting the box still sitting there. 

“He left his lunch,” Pidge sighed, leaning back in their chair. “Rest in pieces, Lance.” Keith huffed and paused for a moment before groaning slightly and grabbing the box, following Lance out the door and catching up with him. “Lance,” he called out, dodging other students. Lance didn’t slow down until Keith had grabbed his arm, to which he let out an embarrassingly loud noise and jumped slightly. “What the fuck, Keith!” 

Keith simply held out the box. “You left this on the table.” Lance narrowed his eyes before quickly grabbing the box, fingers brushing Keith’s for a brief second. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes, turning and continuing his walk. “Thanks I guess, asshole.” 

Keith grinned slightly and called after him, “That’s no way to talk to your close friend, Lance!” The middle finger that was stuck into the air made Keith huff a laugh before turning back to head to the lunchroom again. His mind suddenly went into a panic as he realized he wasn’t going to have much luck with sending Lance nice emails by himself. He groaned when he realized what he was going to have to do. 

He plopped down at the table next to Pidge, who was on their phone, and paused before sighing loudly. “Um, Pidge… when you’re done with Lance, um...do you think you could-” He stopped talking to bury his face in his arms on top of the table before forcing the words out. “- help me writing my responses?” His head jolted up when another thought crossed his mind and he fixed Pidge with a hard look. “And you aren’t allowed to tell him you’re helping me.” 

Pidge never looked up from their phone, but smirked slightly. “Oh sure. If I’m going to be a part of this, then I am going to milk it for all it’s worth.” 

Keith buried his face again and groaned loudly. This was not going to go well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will get into the first emails (and what the original song kinda is about, so it's gonna be fun).


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First emails are stressed over, edited, and finally sent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AIGHT SO!  
> It's been so long, and I know I wasted a ton of people's time with promises like "it'll be out soon" and I can't really say much more than I'm sorry and life was happening. I've actually had most of the chapter done for ages but only yesterday was finally able to finish the last paragraphs I needed.   
> This is definitely not as long of a chapter as y'all deserve, but I can't really say much. If you decide to read this, then thanks, guys :)

Lance raced to the door when the bell rang and yanked it open. “Oh thank whoever the fuck is up there,” he gasped dramatically upon seeing Pidge. “Lance, language, please,” his mom called from the kitchen. “Sorry! Pidge and I are going to my room,” Lance yelled back, grabbing Pidge’s arm and practically dragging them up the stairs and slamming the door to his room shut. 

Pidge raised their eyebrows at him and smiled innocently at Lance’s panicked expression. “So, how are you doing, Lance?” they asked. Lance clasped his hands to his face and groaned loudly. “This is horrible! I can’t figure out any good way to start this email conversation! My instincts are telling me to just start with, ‘Hey, shithead’, but I can’t do that if the ‘rents are going to be reading this. Guhhhhhhh-” he bemoaned, sinking to the floor dramatically while Pidge rolled their eyes. 

“I can’t believe that you, the social butterfly, can’t figure out how to start one email,” Pidge said, amused, sitting down in Lance’s desk chair. Lance came behind them, waving a hand at the blank email that only had, “Dear Keith,” at the top. “Yeah, but this is  _ Keith _ we’re talking about. What the fuck kind of topics would we discuss? We literally have nothing in common!”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “Well that’s not true. You two are actually pretty similar.” Lance looked at them with an almost disgusted look on his face. “Pidge don’t joke with me.” Pidge stared him down until he groaned. “Pidge, what the fuck. How are we similar?” 

“Well you’re both fuckin’ nerds,” Pidge started, counting off on their fingers. “You both are impulsive depending on what’s happening. You are both loyal to your close friends. You both like space shit. You both owe me your first-born child because of me helping you with this bullshit.” They grinned up at Lance. “Need I go on? I have an alphabetical list.” 

Lance flatly stared at them. “No. Please don’t.” He grabbed their head and turned it towards his laptop screen. “Now focus! What do I write?” He leaned back and crossed his arms, glaring at the screen as if all of this was the laptop’s fault. Pidge rolled their eyes, a common occurrence when they were around Lance. They cracked their fingers and paused for a moment before smirking. 

They started to type rapidly; fast enough that it took a few extra seconds before Lance could completely catch up on their words. 

_ “Dear Keith, it’s been a while. Thanks for giving me your email. I’m glad that I get to talk to you more personally now. I’ve missed you and I’ve missed seeing your face in Math 201. I’m so glad that I get to talk to you now. I’ve had to settle all this time with just imagining you while rubbing my nipples, and it’s not long after that that I leEOS:ETHEIK:AJSFHURP:HIWOQFDW)HGOKND:DSL” _

Lance had caught up and tried to rip Pidge’s fingers away from the keys, button mashing in the process. “Why the hell would you write THAT?!” He nearly shrieked, his face red at the mere idea of what Pidge had been writing and in anger at what they had typed. Pidge smirked widely at him, chuckling. “I’m just trying to tell him the truth.” 

Lance groaned, slapping a hand to his face. “Why did I even ask for your help,” he groused, shoving the chair with Pidge in it slightly away from the laptop and bending over, staring hard at the screen while trying to think of something that wasn’t  _ THAT  _ to type. 

Pidge shoved themself back towards the desk, leaning their face on their elbows. “Sooooo? What genius idea are you going to write out?” Lance frowned and then suddenly smirked and deleted most of what Pidge had typed before starting to type anew. 

_ “Hey Keith, it’s been a while. Thanks for giving me your email. Not sure why we couldn’t just text, but sure, this works. Anyway, so now that we’re starting this budding new relationship, it’s time to spill all about yourself. I want to know just what I’m getting into here, haha. Not sure just how much you know about me, but if you’ve heard anything at all, you should feel honored to be talking with such a handsome and cool guy like myself. Hope you respond soon, my dude!”  _

He finished it off with a dramatic, “Sincerely, Lance” before straightening and crossing his arms, his smirk resting on his face. “Go ahead, read it and tell me just how perfect that is,” he said. Pidge gave him a look before leaning forward and quickly reading the draft. Lance knew there was a problem as soon as a wide grin crossed their face. They looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. 

“So, you two have been in a relationship this whole time?” Lance froze before narrowing his eyes at Pidge. “What? No, of course not!” Pidge pointed to the fourth line and smirked slightly. “Well, clearly you were, if you felt the need to talk about your ‘budding relationship’.” Lance looked confused for a brief moment before realizing. 

“No!” He yelped, darting back towards the laptop and quickly changing “relationship” to “friendship.” Crisis averted, he looked at Pidge again, his expression serious. “Ok, but for real, no playing, is this an alright start?” Pidge sighed but visibly went serious, looking over the email again before responding. 

“Well, you come across as a little self centered, but I guess that’s just you in general. Maybe tone it down a little bit. After all, isn’t this supposed to be the first email? You shouldn’t start an email conversation acting super pompous, or else you’d probably scare the other person away.” Lance nodded in consideration, grateful that Pidge was being honest. 

“Alright,” he said, both of them turning back to the screen. “So if I change this line here-”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith yawned as he sat down in his first period class. He had been up late trying to study for a test he had later that day. He pulled his laptop out of his bag and opened it, looking at random sites as he waited for the period to start. On instinct he opened his email to make sure there wasn’t anything important. 

He looked at the random spam and promotional emails with bored eyes until his attention caught on a random email.  _ Who the hell is “blue_cheesemaster14”?  _ He was about to delete it until he saw the subject. 

**First Contact Heyo!!!**

He instantly knew what it was and he suddenly became very nervous. 

It was starting. Lance had sent the first email. 

Keith wasn’t sure why he was suddenly feeling nervous. Maybe it was just because he had no idea what he would read in that email. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Pidge.  _ “I just got Lance’s email. Help me out during study hall?”  _ Then he tucked his phone into his backpack and hesitated for another moment before clicking on the email. 

_ “Heya Keith, it’s been a while. Thanks for giving me your email. Not sure why we couldn’t just text, but sure, this works. Anyway, so now that we’re starting this budding new friendship, it’s time to spill all about yourself. I want to know just what I’m getting into here, haha. Not sure just how much you know about me, but I’m hoping it’s only good stuff :) It’ll be good to learn more about each other, especially since we’re kinda already in the same friend group. Hope you respond soon, my dude!  _

_ Sincerely, Lance” _

Keith reread the email again before slumping back against his seat, mind rushing. How was he supposed to respond to this? It was obvious that PIdge had helped, since he was pretty sure that if Lance had actually typed the whole email, it would be a lot shorter and have more insulting language in it. 

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he was startled when he realized the class had already started. He tried to put it out of his head for the moment and pay attention. He was going to meet with Pidge. He’d worry about it then. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pidge pulled one of their headphones off as Keith reached their study hall table and plopped his bag down before slumping into his chair. They raised an eyebrow. “Are you really this bothered by all of this? It’s only been one email.” 

Keith groaned, annoyed that his expression revealed exactly what it was that had been bothering him. “Come on, Pidge, are you expecting me to be completely calm? We're starting something that's going to go on for who knows how long and has both of our parents involved. We have to do this perfectly.” He groaned and bent forward, burying his face in his hands. 

Pidge just sighed, unimpressed. “And that's why I'm here,” they stated, pushing back slightly from their laptop and turning towards Keith. “Now get your laptop out. We have an email to write and only a half hour to write it.” Keith let out a long suffering moan but did as they said, pulling up the email Lance had sent and, after hesitating a moment, clicking open a replying draft.

After ten minutes of typing and pausing to revise, Keith shoved his laptop towards Pidge, crossing his arms and gesturing for them to read it. They read it over before looking up at Keith. “Y’know, you actually are better off than Lance’s first draft was. There’s just a few small things I think we could change here.”

Keith nodded and let Pidge help him edit. Then after their nodded approval and a pause, he hit the send button and shut his laptop, putting the emails out of his mind until it had to come up again. It was just too stressful to constantly be on his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance hadn’t thought to check his email until he was getting ready for bed that night. He was so much more used to texting, it hadn’t crossed his mind. He was just getting into bed when he remembered that he should probably see if Keith replied. 

He pulled out his phone and opened his email app. He had to sign in, since he rarely used his email (hence the outdated username that he’d thought was perfect back when he was twelve). He yawned, waiting for the screen to load itself so he could go to bed.

He felt much more awake when he saw that Keith had responded. 

He tapped on it and read through the responding message. 

_ Hi, Lance.  _

_ Yeah, I’m sorry about not thinking about texting. My phone kinda sucks with receiving texts so I use this most of the time. But if this still works with you, then that’s good.  _

_ Not sure exactly what you’d want to know about me. What kinds of things are you wanting me to spill about? I mean, I can start with the basics I guess. I obviously like red a lot, and I read and draw in my spare time. Not sure if I have a favorite food, but I like spicy stuff, I guess. Depends on what it is.  _

_ I’ve definitely heard a lot about you. Can’t promise all of it’s positive, but I’ll make my own judgements here. Don’t worry too much about it. I’ve heard plenty good.  _

_ Yeah, I’m glad that we get to talk more personally now. It’s always nice to get to know people outside of just the friend group as a whole. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. :) _

_ Respond whenever you’re able to.  _

_ -Sincerely, Keith.  _

Lance read over it again. It definitely fit the criteria of an introductory email. Not too long but not super short. It had the basic information that you ask about when you first meet someone in it. It was pretty good for their first whole conversation. 

Lance paused on a paragraph. He actually hadn’t known that Keith liked to draw. Granted, most of his history with Keith was just them arguing and participating in their rivalry. It was almost a little weird finding out information like this. And the bit about spicy food was interesting too. Maybe he’d have to test Keith’s spicy tolerance against his own some day. 

Lance yawned again, deciding to keep it open and respond in the morning. He scrolled up a little bit to see when it was sent and paused on the username. It took him a second, but then he snorted, grinning a little and rolling his eyes. 

“ApocalypticMothlord. What a nerd,” he chuckled to himself. At least he wasn’t alone in having a bad email username. Still slightly smiling over just how Keith it was, Lance turned his phone off, pulling the covers fully over himself before closing his eyes and sighing. 

It had started. They were officially doing this. Both of them had committed. Now it was just a question of how long it was going to last. 


End file.
